Chapter 12 – Part 1: Blood, Bone, and the Broken Blade
The ground was wet with steam and blood.
Yuu could barely stand. His legs trembled, bones cracked, muscles torn. His breath came out in gasps—each one jagged, painful, dragging air through lungs that felt like they'd been shattered and stitched together again by flame.
Thud... thud... His heartbeat echoed in his ears—faint, irregular.
The forging of Arsenal Blade 0 had almost killed him.
He didn't remember how long he'd screamed. Ten minutes? Ten hours? The pain had been infinite. Not like wounds. Not like injury. This was something deeper—something that tore at the root of his existence.
AAAHHHHHHHHHH!! HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!! KAAAHHHHHHHH!!
He remembered his body seizing, twitching. Every vein had glowed red as mana reversed in his circuits, rejecting his flesh. His fingernails cracked. His hair burned at the ends. His skin had peeled.
And then—
Silence.
He opened his eyes to find himself in the ruins of the training arena.
The Goddess stood above him, arms folded, wings of radiant mana softly flickering behind her like shattered glass made of starlight.
"You're alive," she said.
"No thanks to you," Yuu rasped, blood dripping from his lips.
The Goddess smiled. "You wanted power. Power comes with pain."
He tried to lift the new blade.
His arm shook violently.
The weapon pulsed—a massive black longsword with layered metallic sigils running down its side. It wasn't elegant. It was monstrous. Forged not from steel, but from raw soul and reversed time.
And it was heavy. So heavy that it felt like it was trying to crush him just by existing.
"Arsenal Blade 0," the Goddess said, "isn't just a weapon. It's a burden. The first blade—the origin of your path. It reflects the pain of its wielder. And now it's yours."
Yuu stood.
No—he forced himself to stand.
Bones shifted. Crack… pop… snap…
He screamed again.
AAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!! HHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!! HAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!
But he didn't fall.
---
The S+ Monster Appears
Boom…
A tremor rocked the field.
The sky above the Demansion split open—not cracked, but peeled—like something clawing through dimensions.
It dropped.
A monster, twenty meters tall, cloaked in rotating obsidian plates. Its body pulsed with blood-red cores embedded in its chest and arms.
Vult'ira, Devourer of Evolution.
An S+ Rank predator. Intelligence level: unknown. Combat history: four trainer deaths. One Goddess-involved reset. It wasn't summoned.
It found him.
The creature screamed.
KRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!
Its mouth split into nine jagged maws. Blades extended from its shoulders like mantis scythes.
And it lunged.
Yuu didn't move.
He couldn't.
SLAM!!
He was smashed backward—blood erupting from his mouth mid-flight. He hit a pillar and crushed it into dust.
CRACKKK!!
His ribs shattered.
But he stood again.
---
The Pain Repeats
KAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!! HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!! HHHHHAAAAAAA!!!
"I can't move like before…" he whispered.
His mana reserves were empty.
His aura fractured.
But Arsenal Blade 0 flickered with unstable black light—willing to devour anything to keep its wielder standing.
The monster charged again. This time it used skill.
Three afterimages.
The real one came from above.
WHOOOOM!!
Yuu dragged the blade upward with everything he had.
CLANGGGG—!!
Steel met claw.
A shockwave exploded through the ruins.
Dust flew. Stones cracked.
His body nearly buckled again—but he held.
His foot dug into the ground.
Shkk… shkkk… skrrrrk…
It was like trying to lift a mountain with broken arms.
But he fought anyway.
"You're not… going to kill me…"
---
End of Chapter 12 – Part 1
—-
Part 2: The Dance of Dismemberment
The next attack came without pause.
Vult'ira blurred—Zzzt!—its massive body flickering through shadow like a phantom. For something so large, it moved with horrifying speed. It curved behind Yuu in mid-air, blades gleaming red with heat.
WHIP—CLANG!
Yuu turned just in time to block with Arsenal Blade 0. The impact sent him flying again—this time he hit the wall shoulder-first. CRUNCH! Bone split.
AAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!
He dropped to one knee, coughing blood. His vision blurred. Part of his right arm refused to move. The Goddess hovered high above, expression still.
"She's watching me suffer again…" Yuu hissed under his breath.
But he knew. She couldn't interfere. She wouldn't.
This was his battle.
BOOM!
The monster launched itself forward again. This time with all four legs glowing. It skidded low, jaws widening—blades rotating like a saw.
Yuu barely dodged—shing! The blade nicked his side. Blood spurted across the cracked marble.
"Damn it…"
His mana was unstable. Arsenal Blade 0, forged from pure soul backlash, ate away at his life every time he activated it. But that also meant—
He was still alive.
And that blade wanted blood.
---
Unleashing Arsenal Blade 0 – Phase One: Shatter Pulse
Yuu exhaled slowly.
A black aura began to rise.
Fssszzzz...
Like steam. Like venom.
His veins lit up with that same corrupted light. Arsenal Blade 0 pulsed in his hand—vibrating, demanding a price.
He whispered:
"Fine. You want more pain?"
"Take it."
He stabbed the blade into the ground.
BOOMMMM!!
Black veins exploded outward, forming sigils in the floor. The entire coliseum rumbled as anti-mana surged.
Vult'ira paused.
Then screamed—
KRRRAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!
It lunged again—but this time Yuu met it halfway.
His body screamed with him:
KAHHHHHHHHHHH!! HHHHHHHHHAAAAAAHHH!!
Every step forward felt like running through fire. But he moved—with terrifying precision.
The first slash came upward—SHRRRIIIIING!—cutting through the creature's foreleg.
Blood and flesh spiraled.
Vult'ira reared back. It spun—and struck Yuu square in the back with a tail whip.
WHACK!!
He collapsed face-first into the floor.
His teeth shattered.
His arm went limp.
He gritted his bloody teeth, looked up with one good eye…
And smiled.
"Still here."
---
Final Technique: Soul Rupture Counter
Vult'ira dove.
Yuu didn't move.
At the last second—WHIRRRRR!—Arsenal Blade 0 glowed red. Not from flame—but from pain.
Yuu twisted his wrist with broken fingers.
And released the built-up damage.
The blade's energy detonated upward.
BOOOOOOOOM!!
A black spear of condensed aura erupted from the tip, straight through Vult'ira's torso.
The monster howled—its insides cooked from the inside out. It reeled, bleeding black ichor.
But it wasn't dead.
Its eyes burned red.
And it kept fighting.
So did Yuu.
---
Collapse
THUD—THUD—SLASH—BOOM—GRRRRR—CLANK—AAAAAHHHHHHH—CRASH!
The battle raged.
Twenty minutes passed. A blur of roars, screams, crushed ribs, severed arms, mangled ground, shattered walls.
Blood soaked everything.
At the end—
Only one figure stood.
Yuu. Sword planted into the ground like a gravestone.
Vult'ira lay behind him, torn in half, its massive jaws still twitching in death.
Yuu's body shook.
He was barely conscious.
His eye swollen shut. His right arm shredded. Chest bleeding. Mana near zero.
But he was alive.
And Arsenal Blade 0 flickered faintly.
---
Above, the Goddess whispered:
"You should've died. But you didn't."
Yuu spit blood and answered:
"I don't… die… until I say so."
---
End of Chapter 12 – Part 2
—-
Part 3: Bonefire and the Aftermath
---
Yuu collapsed.
Face-first into the cracked stone, the echo of Vult'ira's final scream still reverberating in the Dimension.
Clink…
Arsenal Blade 0 hit the ground beside him, the cursed steel hissing as if satisfied.
Steam rose from Yuu's body. Blood pooled beneath him, seeping into the glowing fracture lines of the arena floor.
Every breath burned.
Every twitch screamed agony.
His mind flickered in and out—like a candle in a storm.
---
The Goddess Appears
Tap… tap…
The sound of bare feet echoed across the arena, gentle but sharp. The Goddess walked slowly toward him, her usual smirk subdued.
Her glowing hair flowed behind her like light on water. But her expression this time—was not playful.
She knelt beside Yuu and placed a hand on his chest.
Soft glow…
His broken bones twitched beneath her touch. His lungs rattled with air again. But only just enough.
"I said you wouldn't die," she murmured. "But I didn't say you'd live comfortably."
Yuu coughed violently. Kh-hakk…!
Blood sprayed from his lips. His eyes—barely open—locked onto hers.
"You… healed me?"
"No. Just kept the pieces from falling apart." She grinned. "Your suffering is still yours."
---
Soul Reforging
Suddenly—CRACK!
His entire body seized.
Veins bulged.
AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!
His spine arched off the ground, limbs spasming uncontrollably. The mana backlash from Arsenal Blade 0 surged through him, ripping apart and remaking every nerve, every muscle, every inch of his soul's container.
BZZZTT!
Lightning sparked from his fingertips.
He bit down so hard his teeth cracked.
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!
Then silence.
He collapsed again, gasping like a man just dragged from drowning.
The Goddess leaned back with a sigh.
"You truly are... broken."
---
The Bonefire Ritual
Moments later, the coliseum walls faded into ash. The battlefield shifted—now a silent, moonlit cliffside. A ritual circle shimmered beneath Yuu's body.
She lifted one finger.
A spark ignited.
FWOOSH!
A bonefire roared to life in front of him—pure white flame, casting no shadow.
It smelled of nothing.
Felt like ice.
"This is your reward," she said. "You've earned Bonefire Access."
"What is it…?" he rasped.
"A fragment of rebirth. Sit before it. Let it burn your broken spirit clean."
Yuu crawled toward it on hands and knees.
Every inch was torment.
Every second was war.
But he reached it.
And sat down.
---
Inner Space – The Echo Chamber
Time stopped.
The bonefire dissolved the outer world. Yuu found himself floating in a silent void of glass and black stars.
Around him—reflections.
Each one a different version of him.
Some younger.
Some in pain.
Some monstrous.
Some… smiling.
All watching.
He stood slowly.
One reflection stepped forward.
It was Yuu—cloaked in darkness, holding a severed crown.
"You think you're special?" the version hissed.
"No."
"You think you're a hero?"
"No."
"Then why keep going?"
Yuu clenched his fists.
"Because I haven't lost yet."
---
The Flame's Judgment
The reflections screamed.
All of them.
AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!
The void trembled.
Then they shattered—one by one—like glass under pressure.
CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!
Only the real Yuu remained, breathing heavily, gaze locked forward.
The bonefire's voice whispered:
> "Pain remembered. Pain accepted. Pain refined."
Suddenly, he was back on the cliff.
The Goddess stood with arms folded.
Yuu opened his eyes.
They glowed faint gold now—pale and burning.
She smiled.
"You've survived the Bonefire."
---
Final Exchange
Yuu stood. Slowly. Still bleeding. Still torn. But stronger.
The Goddess turned to leave.
"One more thing,"
he said.
She paused.
"Why did you really give me Arsenal Blade 0? You said it wasn't meant to exist."
She looked over her shoulder, her expression unreadable.
"Because you shouldn't exist either."
Fwoosh…
She vanished in a gust of silver wind.
Yuu looked down at his hand. Arsenal Blade 0 flickered back into form. Its black edge pulsed—like it had tasted the fire too.
He tightened his grip.
And whispered:
"I'll become the reason this world breaks… or the reason it survives."
---
End of Chapter 12 – Part 3